The Donnithorne Wicked Bible - A Digital Edition

This website facilitates access to a digitised copy of the Donnithorne-Christchurch Wicked Bible, the only known copy of this edition (STC 2nd ed 2296) to exist in the southern hemisphere. The Wicked Bible is a 1631 printing of the King James English translation of the bible. The name ‘wicked’ comes from an error in the list of the ten commandments given in the Book of Exodus.

This open access Digital Edition presents a new high-quality digital facsimile of the four books that make up the Donnithorne-Christchurch Wicked Bible. The edition is accompanied by a detailed introduction and full documentation of the conservation process. It is embedded within a website that provides a platform for further research on the Wicked Bible and its history.

The edition is a product of the Wicked Bible Project, a multi-stage initiative led by the UC History Department in partnership with the UC Arts Digital Lab and supported by Maxwell Logistics.

The Digital Edition includes:

• A new, high-definition facsimile of the complete Donnithorne-Christchurch Wicked Bible.
• Accompanying peer-reviewed content that explores the origins of this printing, its production, social context, conservation, and its place in New Zealand history.

The Donnithorne-Christchurch Wicked Bible is owned by The Phil and Louise Donnithorne Family Trust. The bible is on long-term loan to the Macmillan Brown Library, University of Canterbury.

Chris Jones (General Editor) is an Associate Professor in Medieval History at the University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand. His edited books include John of Paris: Beyond Royal and Papal Power (Brepols, 2015), Magna Carta and New Zealand: History, Law and Politics in Aotearoa, with Stephen Winter (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), and Rethinking Medieval and Renaissance Political Thought, with Takashi Shogimen (Routledge, 2023). He is the Co-Director of the Canterbury Roll Project, and is particularly interested in medieval and early modern legacies in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Kaspar Middendorf (UC Arts Digital Lab Manager) has skills in website development and various programming languages, and qualifications in secondary teaching. Kaspar completed their MLING thesis in 2017, using statistical modelling to compare syntactic structures in the QuakeBox spoken language corpus with the written language of the Christchurch Press.

Annika Stedman (Research Assistant) took part in a Summer Research Scholarship in 2022–23 to design and build the Wicked Bible digital edition using the Omeka S platform. She also conducted research into the function and purpose of the English court of High Commission in the 17th century.

Quillan Taylor (Research Assistant) took part in a Summer Research Scholarship in 2022–23 tasked with building an online platform to host the digitised Donnithorne-Christchurch Wicked Bible. He also researched 17th-century English printing techniques. Quillan has a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in history and anthropology.